Indians rally to top Marian

The Lehighton boys basketball team just couldn’t find its rhythm.

But once it did, everything clicked.

A huge second half helped Lehighton overcome an early deficit to claim a 59-53 non-league win over Marian on Monday night.

“I challenged my guys, because in the first half, it wasn’t the group that I know,” said Indians head coach Trevor Miller. “And I challenged them to be themselves, and be the players that I know that they are.

“We made some adjustments, and the adjustments seemed to work. They lifted our energy level a little bit, which turned everything around.”

A sluggish first half that saw Lehighton (1-1) shoot 5-for-24 from the floor resulted in a 28-15 deficit at the intermission. But Miller’s squad shook off the slow start, going on an 11-2 run early in the third quarter and eventually cutting the deficit to 36-35 heading to the final frame.

“One of the things that we preached at halftime was quality of shots,” said Miller. “We were getting shots, and against a zone, you’re gonna get shots. The problem was, we weren’t getting quality shots. So we really wanted our guys to get at the boards.

“We were settling for some jump shots, which obviously isn’t what we want. We were bigger than them. So we challenged our kids to get after the boards, and we did. And when we did that, it turned everything around. Our defensive pressure led to us getting easy buckets.”

That attack was spearheaded by junior Addison Howland, who scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half.

Howland drained one of his four 3-pointers with 7:36 to play in the fourth quarter to put the Indians ahead 38-36, their first lead since an 11-10 advantage late in the first quarter.

“I think a lot of credit should go to our coaches for this one, because the first half we weren’t playing well,” said Howland. “At halftime, coach Miller was honest with us. He told us what we needed to do. And they really motivated us in the locker room.”

Greg Venuto completed a three-point play, scoring on a put-back and nailing a free throw with 6:11 to play in the fourth quarter to give Lehighton the lead for good at 43-40.

Zach Hunsicker and Caine Carpenter also scored in double figures for the Indians. Hunsicker scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, while Carpenter tallied eight of his 10 after the break.

“I think what happened was they got shots in rhythm, they got shots off steals,” Marian head coach John Patton said of the Indians. “And when you see the ball go through, especially for some of their shooters, it makes a big difference.

“They came down (the court), they got the ball to their shooters in a position where they could be successful. A lot of it was not off of their set offense. It was a lot in transition, which we didn’t get. We didn’t get the ball to our shooters in transition, where they did, and they made us pay.”

LEADING THE WAY … Tyler Fritz scored 20 points to pace Marian (0-2). Chris Ritsick nailed four 3-pointers and finished with 12 for the Colts.

PUT IT IN THE BOOKS … Monday’s victory was Miller’s first as head coach of the program.

MARIAN

Stauffer 3-1-3-7, Fritz 7-5-6-20, Maylath 2-4-4-8, Tate 1-0-1-2, McLaughlin 0-0-0-0, Sabulsky 0-0-0-0, McNelis 0-0-0-0, Agosti 0-0-0-0, Ritsick 4-0-0-12, Goff 2-0-0-4, Fiesel 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-10-14-53.

LEHIGHTON

Heery 1-0-0-2, Troxell 0-1-2-1, Carpenter 2-6-8-10, Schaeffer 0-0-0-0, Hunsicker 4-5-6-14, Bradley-Chambers 0-0-0-0, Haydt 0-0-0-0, Howland 7-4-8-22, Venuto 3-3-3-10, Schatz 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-19-27-59.

Marian 13 15 8 17 - 53

Lehighton 11 4 20 24 - 59

Three-pointers: M – Ritsick 4, Fritz 1. L – Howland 4, Hunsicker 1, Venuto 1.